HUD fair market rent by ZIP code.

What an FMR is, in HUD's own words

Federal regulation defines fair market rents as estimates of rent plus the cost of utilities, except telephone. They are set at the 40th percentile rent: the dollar amount below which the rent for 40 percent of standard-quality rental units in the area falls, drawn from the units occupied by recent movers, with public housing and substandard units excluded (24 CFR 888.113(a)). The September 2026 notice adds the plain-language version: the gross rent a tenant would need to pay for privately owned, decent, safe housing of a modest, non-luxury nature. Two details trip people up. The figure is a gross rent, so it includes utilities. And it is a program number, used to set payment standards for Housing Choice Voucher families and the rent ceilings in programs such as HOME and Emergency Solutions Grants, not a statement of what any unsubsidized landlord may charge.

Why "by ZIP code" is the wrong shape for most FMRs

HUD estimates FMRs for metropolitan areas, some HUD-defined subdivisions of them, and each nonmetropolitan county. A ZIP code appears only through the Small Area FMR, a separate figure that HUD calculates from Census data for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas. Housing agencies in HUD-designated metropolitan areas must use Small Area FMRs for their voucher payment standards. Agencies elsewhere may opt in. So the ZIP code you are asking about has an FMR of its own only if it sits in a Small Area FMR area; otherwise it takes the figure for its metro area or county. The companion page on Small Area FMRs covers which figure applies when.

How to look it up

1. Open the HUD User Fair Market Rents page and choose the fiscal year. The FY 2027 figures became effective on October 1, 2026, and the page also carries a year-by-year history with downloadable files back to 1983.
2. Pick the geography. For a metro area or county, read the row for the number of bedrooms you need. For a ZIP code, open the Small Area FMR data for the same year instead.
3. Check whether a reevaluation applies. The FY 2027 notice lets agencies request a reevaluation, and in areas with a valid request the FY 2026 figures may stay in effect until HUD posts revised FMRs, planned for April 2027. HUD posts the list of those areas on its FMR page.
4. Copy the figure for the bedroom count into the box above to see the payment standard range.

How HUD builds the number

The FY 2027 notice walks through the method. HUD starts with the five-year American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024 and uses two-bedroom standard-quality gross rents as the base. An estimate must have a margin of error under half its size and at least 100 observations, or HUD falls back to a three-year average and then to a larger geography. HUD then applies a recent-mover factor that can raise the base but never lower it, a gross rent inflation factor, and a trend forecast to the fiscal year. FY 2027 is the first year the utility part of those factors changes, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped publishing the local housing fuels and utilities index HUD had used.

Other bedroom counts come from the two-bedroom figure by ratio. Efficiencies are held between about 0.70 and 0.88 of the two-bedroom FMR, one-bedrooms between 0.76 and 0.92, three-bedrooms between 1.10 and 1.27 and four-bedrooms between 1.22 and 1.55. HUD then adds 8.7 percent to the three-bedroom figure and 7.7 percent to the four-bedroom figure so large families have an easier time leasing. Each bedroom beyond four adds 15 percent of the four-bedroom FMR, and a single-room occupancy FMR is 0.75 times the efficiency figure. Every area's two-bedroom FMR must also meet a minimum based on non-metropolitan medians; for FY 2027 the national non-metropolitan figure is $1,014. Finally, the new FMR may not fall below 90 percent of last year's.

From FMR to payment standard

The FMR is not what a voucher pays. A housing agency (PHA) sets a payment standard for each unit size, and the regulation lets it choose any amount from 90 percent to 110 percent of the published FMR without asking HUD (24 CFR 982.503(c)). Above 110 percent it needs an exception: up to 120 percent if it meets HUD's success-rate or rent-burden criteria, and beyond that with HUD approval. The payment standard is then the maximum monthly subsidy for a family. How the family's share is worked out is on the tenant share calculator page.

Worked example (hypothetical numbers)

Suppose a metro area's two-bedroom FMR is $1,500 and last year's was $1,600. The basic range is $1,350 to $1,650, so a PHA could set its two-bedroom payment standard anywhere in that band. HUD's 90 percent floor means this year's published figure could not have been lower than $1,440. If the four-bedroom FMR were $2,000, a five-bedroom would be $2,300 and a six-bedroom $2,600; if the efficiency FMR were $1,000, a single-room unit would be $750. None of those numbers is real. Substitute the HUD table's figures for your area.

Common mistakes

• Treating the FMR as market rent. It is the 40th percentile, so roughly 60 percent of standard-quality recent-mover units rent at or above it, and it is a gross rent that includes utilities.
• Using a third-party site's ZIP code number without checking the year or whether it is a Small Area FMR. Confirm the figure on HUD's page.
• Mixing the fiscal year with the calendar year. FY 2027 started on October 1, 2026.
• Assuming the payment standard equals the FMR. The agency chooses it, usually within 90 to 110 percent.
• Forgetting that a landlord's contract rent plus the utility allowance is compared with the payment standard, not rent alone.

Who this is for

Voucher holders searching for a unit, landlords deciding whether a listing rent will pass a voucher program, housing counselors, and staff at agencies or nonprofits who use FMRs for HOME, Emergency Solutions Grants or Continuum of Care budgets.

What this page does not cover

• It does not contain HUD's FMR table or any ZIP code figures. The numbers change each year, so read them from HUD User.
• It does not know your agency's payment standard, which can differ from the FMR within the allowed range and may use exception areas.
• It does not decide whether a unit passes rent reasonableness or any other voucher rule.
• It is general information, not housing or legal advice.